1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a toy, to be more exact a maze intellectual game advantageous to tap intellectual resources, enhance the analysis and judgement capacity, nurture one""s capabilities and reinforce one""s memory.
2. Background Art
Present intellectual games include magic cube, transformer, puzzle ring, building block and various picture arrangement toys etc. They have their own distinctive features. Transformer, building block and picture arrangement is of simple structure and comparatively easy. Thus they are only applicable to younger kids; puzzle ring is composed of several components that need to be decomposed one by one. Even if it is rather difficult to assemble and decompose each component, one may lose interest in it and feel monotonous once he/she has known the knack. Magic cube with bright colors is a challenge to a player. However, the player may become bored if he/she fails to find the secret to it. What""s more, puzzle ring and magic cube are too difficult for younger kids. xe2x80x9cArithmetic Intelligence Game,xe2x80x9d Chinese Patent No. No. ZL 97235209.0, is designed against the shortcomings of the above toys. Compared with the above toys xe2x80x9cArithmetic Intelligence Gamexe2x80x9d is rich in variation and beneficial to cultivating one""s logical thinking, judgement capacity and patience and will never make the player feel bored. However, index bar up-and-down is used to show the status change, which is not obviously visible to the naked eyes. The player has to observe index up-and-down one by one and may feel tired. In a word, it is not so interesting.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide a more interesting maze intelligence game which is rich in variations, has adjustable difficulties and is applicable to the players of all age.
In order to achieve the above object the invention adopts the following technologies: the game comprising a shell, an operating apparatus, several indicating apparatuses, a bedplate at the bottom of the shell, several vertically upward racks fixed on the bedplate and arranged orderly in length and breadth whose number corresponds to that of indicating apparatuses, slideway grooves between the racks and between the racks and all sides of the shell. Each indicating apparatus is set on a corresponding rack. The operating apparatus is engaged in the vertical and horizontal slideway grooves. When the operating apparatus slides along the slideway grooves, the status of indicating apparatus on the passed rack is changed. When the indicating apparatuses on all racks reach the set status, the game is over. Wherein:
the several indicating apparatuses are of the identical structure, having an indicating panel, a shadeguide, a turning guide, a swing turnable cover and a pendulum rod;
the several racks are of the identical structure. The top of each has a central circular hole to place an indicating panel on it, while the bottom is the external cylinder, through which the swing turnable cover of indicating apparatus may pass. In the external cylinder whose outboard boasts a straight slot and an inserting slot there is one central through-hole, through which the pendulum rod extends.
According to a preferred design the operating apparatus is a movable block on the top and a fluted disc at the bottom that forms a link gear with the turning guide of the indicating apparatus and/or the swing turnable cover. The movable block and the fluted disc are integrated whole.
The said several racks and several corresponding indicating apparatuses may have multi groups of arrangement, namely 3-row and 3-line, 3-row and 4-line, 4-row and 4-line and 5-row and 4-line.
In the indicating apparatus:
Each indicating panel has a sign to indicate the direction. In the middle of the indicating panel there is an observing window;
Turning guide is of closed or unclosed cylinders. External periphery at its bottom has a circle of teeth. The cylinder center is a cavity, in which a shadeguide may swing;
Each shadeguide has different color zones or patterns that are in the cavity of the turning guides;
There are gullets at the upper periphery of the swing turnable cover, while there are cam slots for the pendulum rod at interior side of the bottom. A central hole for slide fitting with the external cylinder of the rack bottom is in the middle of the swing turnable cover;
A pair of straight pins are symmetrically set at both sides of the pendulum rod. At one side of the pendulum rod there is side foot that passes through the straight slot of the rack.
The fluted disc of the said operating apparatus may be of double-layered type, both of which have contacting gears. The contacting gears at the upper fluted disc mesh the teeth on the turning guides, while those at the bottom one mesh the gullets on the swing turnable cover.
The operating apparatus may designed to be single-layered type that has contacting gears either meshing the teeth on the turning guides or meshing the teeth on the gullets on the swing turnable cover.